BAC

Yes you haven't heard of it? It's an international database portal maintained by the IOC. You should see how the big-name countries go after the big names when their name drops on the portal; it's like one big international auction. But sometimes athletes who have already picked a new country have a "do not contact" label, so you know that some sultan somewhere already bought them off.

Does the IOC (or UWW) set any sort of minimum standards to allow a competitor, especially one from a barred country to compete for another country? Should they? I know it's been discussed before, but the number of Russians in the Olympics was crazy. Flo has a good breakdown here: https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/12787978-2024-paris-olympics-mens-freestyle-wrestling-by-the-numbers. It also caught the eye of the mainstream press in Paris, giving a bit of a black eye to wrestling: https://sportstar.thehindu.com/olympics/paris-2024/news/paris-olympics-2024-russians-wrestling-medals-representing-other-countries-controvery-russia-ukraine-war-ioc-action/article68514966.ece. And now, post-Olympics, the Russian parades are happening, as someone pointed out re Zhamalov: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-7t2zLs_t5/?igsh=YzJkY3ExZ3oyaXox. Come on. Zhamalov is Russian. He wasn't born in Uzbekistan, he never had dual citizenship in Uzbekistan. Rather, in the first half of 2024, after Russia was banned, Zhamalov was able to change citizenship to Uzbekistan a few months before the Olympics, but never moved there. Zhamalov competes in the Olympics -- defeating 4 other Russian-born wrestlers in his first 4 matches (all competing for other countries) -- and wins. He goes back to Russia and Russia throws a parade for him. I don't mean this as sour grapes. Rivera, after all, competed for PR and had a parade in NJ. In general, I'm fine with athletes of dual citizenship parentage choosing who to represent, and there's nothing wrong with changing citizenship in general. In fact, as a wrestling fan, I like seeing all the skilled Russians, as it ups the level of competition. But I'm not a fan of the "hired gun" citizenship swap, where a country alters and dumbs down its citizenship criteria solely to bring in someone for their athletic prowess. (I'm sure the citizens of Bahrain are still celebrating the win of their favorite son, Tazhudinov.) To me, it undermines the country-vs-country ethos that undergirds the world/Olympic games. Now it's more like one big open tournament. Almost half the 74kg wrestlers in the Olympics (freestyle) were Russian (including 4 of the top 6). I'm also not a fan of athletes from barred countries who don't meet AIN criteria, circumventing it by taking faux citizenship elsewhere. Not making any accusations, but Zhamalov could literally be a Russian soldier occupying Ukraine and blowing holes in their skulls, and a day later he can fly to Paris to compete since he has dual citizenship with Uzbekistan. I read that UWW head Lalovic, embarrassed at the ease with which Russia invaded the Olympics via other countries, wants to set a cap on the number of transfers a given country can accept. That's a start, but I'm thinking more along the lines of minimum standards of new citizens, e.g. you have to be a citizen for at least two years before you can compete for a new country. And for athletes hailing from a IOC-barred country, maybe require relinquishment of citizenship from the prior country, instead of allowing dual citizenship. That seems a fair substitute for having to pass the AIN clearance process. Thoughts?

Has Zhamalov ever even set foot in Uzbekistan?

Oh I hope they continues with free and folk too, and definitely not foregoing college. But eventually they'll reach a point that they need to focus on free or Greco when going for world teams, and I hope they choose Greco. Our Greco program is kind of in the toilet right now, and they can win at the highest level. In free, they are very good too, but there will always be 5 or 6 guys at their age/weight just as good as them, whereas in Greco there's a huge drop-off at their weight after the Raneys.

Thanks. I'll agree my BJJ eye is untrained. Just curious, what was Bradley doing that I missed? And what was Downey doing that qualifies as stalling on his part (but not Bradley's part)? Anyway, I like your idea that conceding bottom position should be treated as the same as getting taken down, i.e. you start in a deficit. That at least puts the offensive onus on them. Also, how about the ref stands them up if nothing happens after 30 seconds or so? It's pretty painful to watch otherwise.

Just wanted to chime to say that, my non-BJJ eyes agree with this 100% -- although after watching Downey's second match, I'm not sure I even see how there's another side of the argument. You can see it here at the 4:00 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyneYOMCvI0 Admittedly I'm biased by my wrestling background, as it's hard for me to take seriously a guy to drops to his back like a submissive dog. But even accepting that legit BJJ offense can be initiated from there, what's the rationale for rewarding a guy who pulls guard and then initiates zero offense? That's what happened to Downey. Downey spent 14:50 of the 15 minute match on top, because Bradley pulled guard. And once he was on his back like a stuck turtle, Bradley attempted NOTHING. Nothing at all. Granted, Downey didn't seem to have any clue how to initiate a submission, so he pretty much spent the whole match grinding Bradley's head and back into the mat, squeezing, and occasionally flinging Bradley's body around to try to get a better angle. But I don't see how anyone could question that Downey was the aggressor from start to finish. The most you could say for Bradley is that he was defending effectively and waiting for Downey to make a mistake that he never made. Why wouldn't that mean Downey wins? Even granting ZERO credit to Downey for smashing Bradley against the mat the whole match, why wouldn't Downey's offensive effort be the tiebreaker? The only way you can say Downey lost is if you put the impetus on action in that scenario to the guy in the dominant position (on top). Which, apparently, is how the judges saw it, and the ref too, as even he stopped the match to warn Downey for stalling, despite initiating all the action. Again, I'm not a BJJ guy, but how is that not insane? It's basically saying you can curl up into a tight little ball for 15 minutes, laughing and saying "la la la you can't get me" like a 3 year old, and as long as you survive without being seriously threatened or scored upon, you win. Bradley even had the gall to whine about Downey in the post-match interview for making the match boring. First time I ever felt solidary with Pat Downey. It does seem like there's some dissent within the BJJ community about this, as the announcers thought Downey did enough to win. And props to guys like the Ruotolos and Thacketts who thrive on offense. But man, to this outsider's eyes, if BJJ is going to thrive it needs to stop rewarding defense.

The Raney brothers are a blast to watch. Always going for the big move, always fearless. Each now has a Cadet world title in this style, right? I hope they stick with Greco, as they're a pleasure to watch. Their style is to high-risk to win consistently in freestyle against the top guys, but it's just so hard to beat in Greco.

Interesting. Chael’s take seems mostly on point. Supposedly they announced a CJI 2025 event, so maybe that means the benefactor, whoever it is, is committed. Wonder if this will be the new grappling standard?

Where did he get that kind of money? I mean…. 10k to enter, 1 million for the winner of each weight class? I thought Craig Jones was just some early-30s grappler dude. Has some random billionaire somewhere decided to bankroll him?

This is what I was thinking. Unfortunately I think this cross-over is sort of a one-off, solely for kicks, since the rules are so clearly tilted to BJJ while offering nothing for wrestlers. With a takedown meaningless, the most the wrestlers can really do is keep their opponent at bay and wear him out. If anything, I think wrestling is the LEAST compatible of disciplines with BJJ/submission grappling, since all the positions wrestlers strive for are only going to put them in danger of being submitted. There was exactly zero path to victory for Nolf since his white-belt-level submissions won’t work and any offensive wrestling move he makes is going to put him in a spot where he has to tap out. That said, it was a fun watch! Nope didn’t really have a strategy except to do a quick TD attempt and immediately bail out, and hope he gets points for “initiating action.” That was doomed to fail but at least his opponent decided to mix it up on his feet instead of doing the sit-on-my-butt thing that is so annoying. Btw is it true the wrestlers got 10k just for agreeing to compete?

I might agree if this was a one-off alcohol arrest. New coaches who want to be seen as "cleaning up the program" can be anxious to put out a so-called "zero-tolerance" policy, which usually backfires, both in alienating the team (which sees it as overly draconian) and in inconsistent application (as no one's dismissing a defending national champ over a one-off arrest for a minor crime). But I don't see that at all if, as is reported, this comes on the heels of a DUI last year. No one's going to see that as draconian. I don't think there's many big programs in the country where you can expect to be arrested twice of the same infraction and expect to still be on the team. I can't imagine Taylor, or any coach, would want to send the message to the team, "here at OSU you can get arrested for alcohol-related crimes twice in a year and still compete for a spot."

I'd argue that the 2020 (aka 2021) men's freestyle Olympic team was our best in modern memory. Six weights, five medals: Gold (Taylor, Gable), Silver (Snyder), Bronze (Gilman, Dake). That's a medal in over 83% the weights, and that's with Russia completing (under the Olympic banner) along with all the former Soviet republics. That's a far higher percentage than the '72 team (83% vs 60%), and even a higher percentage of gold medals (33% vs 30%), and that's with only a single Soviet bloc competitor. The '92 team had the same percentages as the '72 team, so the same comments apply. And remember we didn't even qualify 65kg in '20, so of the actual competitors, we were 5-for-5 in medals.

NLWC is obviously the top club in the US, and proved it by their international success over the years, by attracting so much top talent from other clubs, and by putting so many guys in the Olympics. But everyone can't be an Olympic Champion. The NLWC medal haul (2) was more than any other club. It was short of their goals, no doubt, but there's no one you can look at and say "NLWC didn't have him prepared." The guys who lost fought hard and came up short, and there's no reason to think they'd have fared better with another club.

I thought Burroughs was excellent. Had a good beat on the rules and often knew the outcome of challenges before they happened. Talked about himself less. I was worried we might see a hint of sour grapes with Dake or the PSU guys, but not a whiff. And he called it down the middle; without an overly-US bias. I miss Smith but the truth is he has lost a bit of his passion in recent years. JB hasn’t. I don’t know much about Knapp’s background but he did his homework very well. Maybe not a wrestling guy but solid announcer and knew when to defer to JB. Couldn’t hear the arena announcer from the Peacock video but from what I heard Jason Bryant was outstanding as usual. The Scottish dudes (or Irish or English) on the other Peacock feed were a train wreck as usual. WTF, why do they keep bringing those guys back, it’s like watching wrestling at a pub and overhearing drunk Englishmen who have never seen the sport before commenting on it (“oooh she did a ‘body press’ to end the ‘fight’”)

Best wrestling move in the Olympics. Even Dake, with his bomb against Tsabalov, would have to agree that Blades’ 5 was technically prettier.

Honestly I was happy to see Geno get it back. He looked broken after his loss to Gable, and Zare was absolutely gifted his finals berth when they put Akgul in the clock about 10 uneventful seconds after Zare got off the clock.

I have little doubt the weight cut plays a big role here. If it didn’t, then I’d expect he would weigh in tomorrow and make a game-day decision about on how he feels. I assume it’s also true that the concussion symptoms are what makes it too hard for him to safely make the day 2 cut. But I also think if he were at 70kg, where the cut is easier, we would see him weighing in tomorrow and deciding then about whether he can go. If I’m right, I wish Zain would be more open about the weight cut issue, since it’s another arrow in the quiver to fight to get the 4 lost weight classes back. With the Indian wrestler not making weight against Hildebrant, I think the time is right for UWW to make a hard push. The way only negative PR that wrestling took this Olympics was the horrors of the Indian weight cut, even having blood drawn to try to get down, and I think UWW has a chance to turn that blemish into a positive: there is too much of a gap between weights which is resulting in unsafe weight cuts. Though the Indian is an obvious example, I highly suspect Zain is one too. It’s a 70kg guy going down to 65, and basically he needs to be in perfect health after day 1 to safely be able to make the arduous cut for day 2. That won’t happen all the time, and didn’t with Zain. Really hope Zain comes clean on his weight cut (if my assumption is on point) and that UWW brass seizes on these news stories to make a hard push to reinstate lost weights for 2028.

Dake would like a word about this topic.

Did anyone else notice a pretty big disconnect between Kyle and his coaches? Cody seemed as confused what Kyle was talking about as the refs.

I thought the same thing. I liked Snyder's strategy: be cautious, since being overly-aggressive last time burned him, and use his conditioning to pour it in at the end. Unfortunately he got turned and the 6-1 gap was a bit much to overcome, and Snyder's conditioning wasn't quite as on point as it usually is. But I still think it's the right strategy as Taz pretty much collapsed at the end. A fitter Snyder would've taken him.

Amouzad has always been like that. Just for kicks, go back and look at his match against Poulin at the Cadet level:

Yeah I know. But let's face it, Lee especially has reeked of HEW for the last 2 years. Couldn't be more proud and excited about his renaissance over the past 6 months, but if he won gold, do you really think he'd be competing next year? I'd give it a coin flip at best. The knees would make for an easy scapegoat. But now? He knows full well he's right there with the best in the world. I don't see him moving on until his knees keep him from winning, and clearly that isn't the case. I'm heartbroken for the kid, but give me silver + 4 more years over gold + one-and-done. Here's to hoping the next 4 years are gold.

As bummed as I am to see Lee and Brooks not take gold, the following positive thought washed over me after seeing each's loss: At least this means they won't be one-quad-and-done. Olympic Gold is the pinnacle of the sport, and it's tempting to rest on your laurels when you win it. Some, like JB, Kyle and Taylor, come back for more. Others, like Cael, Cejudo and Gable (both of 'em), are satisfied, and hang it up. As Taylor recently admitted, it is really hard to keep yourself motivated after achieving his lifelong goal. But what you pretty much NEVER see is someone as young as Lee and Brooks hang it up after earning an Olympic medal but not a gold one. Usually it just makes them hungrier. Here's to hoping that getting a taste of their goal, but falling slightly short, means we get to see another 4 more years (at least) of them working to get even better and mowing over their international competition.

I agree having an actual gold medal match is a good thing, but I think there's more to the rationale than that. It helps discourage extreme weight cutting to tell all athletes you only get a chance at a medal if you make weight BOTH days. That's good for the sport, and helps ensure everyone's at the right weight, and not one where they will struggle on Day 2 to make weight. Also, the current rule discourages athletes from eating a ton after Day 1 weigh-ins and having a huge weight advantage over your opponents. It keeps everyone at about the same level. To use an extreme example, imagine you know you have zero chance of beating your opponent on the opposite end of your bracket, so your best case scenario is silver. In that scenario, if the rule were otherwise, it could actually make sense to eat liberally after Day 1 weigh-ins so you have as big a size advantage as possible in the quarters and semis. Then if you win, who cares if you don't make weight on Day 2 (and maybe you don't even try), since had no shot beyond silver anyway. I'd be surprised if that last scenario ever played out, but I do think it's good for the sport to remove that risk, and to incentivize healthy weight cutting. I think the NCAA does the same thing and I think it's the right call for the sport.

That's worth a Bob.